An Engaging Evening with 'Collected Stories'

Geri Amori and Amy Burrell-Cormier are drama queens. And I mean that in a good way.

Last night I had the pleasure of taking in a production of the Donald Margulies play Collected Stories at the Off-Center for the Dramatic Arts in Burlington. Those two women are its sole actors, playing the characters of an older and younger woman, respectively, who are linked by their love of writing. As their relationship evolves from that of teacher and student to friends to — well, I'm not going to give away the ending — multiple layers of stories unfold. It's a strong, emotionally genuine play that explores the very essence of life stories, and these two women give the work the impassioned performances it deserves.

Nude Brazilians at the Flynn!

I'm a ticket holder for the Balé Folclorico da Bahia show this Friday at the Flynn MainStage. So I was one of the people who received an email notice this afternoon, as follows:

'We have just been informed by the company that two pieces in the program will contain male and female nudity as dancers portray certain gods. We wanted to let you know in case it affects your decision to attend. We will honor refund requests due to this development.'

Does anyone else besides me find this hilarious? I'll tell you how I'm 'affected': I'm making a note to self to bring along my opera glasses!

Oliver Twisting the Night Away

That's what I'll be doing one night next week. Cuz I attended a bit of a rehearsal of Vermont Stage Company's production of Oliver Twist and have to say it's looking, and sounding, good. I went to hear some of David Symons' sweetly dissonant music in context — see my piece on the Burlington composer in this week's Seven Days.

David (pictured at right) got the cool gig of writing original music for Oliver Twist, an adaptation by Brit theater artist/playwright Neil Bartlett. What I heard in rehearsal made me want to hear more. As VSC artistic director Mark Nash put it, "David is surpassing my expectations."

Theater Review: SLaM Misses Goal

I wanted to like SLaM: The Hockey Rock Opera, I really did. As someone who is often caught without a rhyme while making up goofy songs on the fly with my boyfriend, I loved creator Lauren Walker's boldness: She actually recorded the ditties she made up with her boyfriend while traveling through Europe and turned them into a full-length musical, which runs through next weekend at Montpelier's City Hall Arts Center.

There's probably a reason most of us don't get that far. 

The story is charming: Silky LaMouche (Micheal Henderson) is a 38-year-old hockey player living in Canada, playing for a farm team, dreaming of the big leagues and pining for his artist girlfriend, Steamy (Taryn Noelle). She's living in New York City, painting, strumming sad ballads on her guitar, enduring angry tirades from her landlord, and drowning in rejection letters from art galleries.